Learning Can’t Wait: Solutions to Overcoming the Education Crisis 

When it comes to education, there’s no time to waste. The latest results from the 2022 PISA tests revealed a profound learning crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean, where three out of four students do not achieve basic levels in mathematics. The solutions to overcome this education crisis exist. This blog post presents a path forward with proven solutions to tackle the learning gap. It is based on a presentation given during the Annual Meetings of the Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank, where ministers and experts explored ways to scale up these solutions as a critical priority to reduce regional poverty and inequality. Because learning can’t wait. 

Why do children die? Twenty-five years ago, Bill Gates became obsessed with that question. And he had a good reason: in 2010, 10% of children under five years old died. 

We knew where and why children were dying: 

• Where? In low- and middle-income countries. 
• Why? 82% died from communicable diseases, like diarrhea. In other words, 82% of those deaths could have been prevented. 

We knew the where and why, and we also knew the solutions. Some had already been invented, but there was an access problem. They were too expensive or did not reach the places where they were needed. This was the case, for example, with oral rehydration solutions for diarrhea. 

But other solutions had not yet been invented. In those cases, scientists set out to develop them. This is the case with the rotavirus vaccine. 

What was achieved? In less than 30 years, child mortality was reduced by half. 

Now, I’ll refer to another global challenge: learning. 

Understanding The Learning Crisis: Where Are Students with Learning Gaps Located? 

The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) published the results of PISA 2022 in December last year. Those results showed a global crisis in learning. 

What happened in Latin America and the Caribbean? We saw that three out of four 15-year-old students lack basic skills in mathematics, and almost half do not understand what they read. 

If learning were a disease, we would be talking about a global pandemic. 

We partnered with the World Bank to publish the report Learning Can’t Wait: Lessons for Latin America and the Caribbean from PISA 2022. We sought to better understand the reasons behind this learning crisis in the region. 

And, just as with child mortality, we know where and why. 

Where? 

Also, in low—and middle-income countries, on average, 15-year-old students in the region lag five years behind the average student in OECD countries. If we compare Latin American and Caribbean countries with those above the OECD average, the gap is 12 years of learning compared to Singapore, which leads the PISA rankings. 

We not only know where the learning crisis is located and in which countries these learning challenges exist, but we also know who the lagging students are within countries. 

There is an enormous inequality in learning by socioeconomic status: 88% of low-income students underperform in mathematics, compared to 55% of the wealthiest students. That’s a difference of more than 30 percentage points between the two groups. 

Why do Latin America and the Caribbean have low learning levels? 

We not only know where, but we know why: 

1. First, we are not investing enough in education. Our countries invest, on average, three times less in education than OECD countries. 
2. There is also a relationship between investment and learning. With the current level of investment, we could improve learning outcomes. Therefore, there is room for efficiency. The countries in the region are below the trend line, which means they could achieve better learning results for every dollar they invest. 
3. Third, there is a distribution problem and an equity issue. The teacher is the main input an education system has to achieve learning. And what we see is that this main input is unequally distributed. The highest-quality teachers are systematically in schools where the highest-income students attend. 

Three keys to overcome the education crisis: solutions that work 

Just as in the case of child mortality, we know where; we understand why. And we also know the solutions that work. 

1. Measure more and better. Measuring learning means knowing where we stand and providing a sense of purpose and direction. It indicates where we want to be in the coming years. 

2. Investing more. Countries in the region need to invest more. 

3. Investing better. Investing better means generating efficiencies and spending better on the one hand. On the other hand, it means investing in programs that we know are effective and can improve learning. 

Examples of solutions that work to enhance learning 

• Early literacy programs. We know, for instance, that if we offer good literacy programs to young children from an early age, we can improve their reading skills by 30%. “Let’s All Learn to Read” is one such solution. 
• Intercultural bilingual education. We also know that when we culturally contextualize the learning of mathematics, indigenous children develop 50% stronger math skills. 
• Remote tutoring. We also know that when we provide personalized support to the most vulnerable, lagging students through highly cost-effective remote tutoring, we can accelerate their learning by 30%. 
• School feeding programs. We also know that offering school meals to students increases their participation in school. We see a 9% improvement in school attendance. 
• Education management and information systems. Finally, having management and information systems is crucial. They not only help us generate efficiencies but are also essential to ensure equity. This data allows us to distribute resources more equitably in education systems to compensate for student differences.  

We know the magnitude of the problem. We have studied it in depth. We know where the problem lies and why we are facing this challenge. And we also know the effective solutions. We have done it before; we can do it again. The main challenge is how to transform the region’s education systems at scale. Because learning can’t wait, these generations of children and youth cannot wait.